Just a practice piece I decided to put some fresh inspiration on! I'm testing the FireAlpacka painting program and found that I like it's simplicity. This very simple quickie was made when I decided to finaly face one of my biggest childhood horrors. In swedish she's called Mårran (The Gnarler), in english The Groke and in Finnsh Mörkö. She was one of the main characters that really scared the shit out of me as a kid. Today I wathed every single scene she's in. I now see that I understand the character much better as I've grown up.The groke is more or less a symbol of loneliness. She's a big, ghostlike figgure with small eyes, a big nose and a wide set of teeth that forms a line across her face. To the inhabitants of the Mominvalley, she's seen as a constant lurking horror. Everything she touches turns to ice and everything freezes and dies around her. The truth is that she just wants to feel warmth and love in the company of others. She just doesn't have the means to, or knows how to approach others. It's really sad.So this one is for her!

Cold embrace.

His legs were now numb as they continued to make him a way through the deep deep snow. He thought he would have seen the warm light from a house by now, but the endless starlit glittering night continued on and on. He suddenly stopped when he herd - almost like a hint of a thought - a long and boneshilling gnarl. It was like nothing he'd ever heard before. It sounded somewhat like a person but still... The sound was gone but instead a new feeling approached him like a moonlit shadow. He thought he already was cold... but suddenly he started shaking beyond anything he had ever experienced. A subtile and yet horrifying feeling of beeing watched made him look up from his working legs. He stopped. It was distant, but he still felt the eyes that pierced his mind like a frosty tip of a spear. The long and plaintive gnarl started again as the thing started to move. Slow and floating toward him. Shapeless and with only the piercing eyes in restless motion. As the thing came closer, he could see a wide set of teeth, forming a horrible grin, undernieth a nose that was way out of proportions. Mist followed it in its way and as it thickened, he felt the cold deathly grast of its presence. He ran. He fought his way into the deep woods, mindlessly oblivious of time or direction. He couldn't feel his legs at all and soon he fell as he ran. He got up again but now he barely saw anything through the mist that had formed around him. His body was now so cold that he barely gave any vissible breath anymore. His entire body ached and he looked around without knowing what to do. As his gaze turned right ahead, the shapeless thing stood right before him. He fell on his knees and started crying in desperate hopelessness and didn't see the face before him. And if he did, there's no telling of what he would make of it. The face was scared and sad. So unimaginably sad. As it started to moove toward him, it's legs gave away a sound like the cracking of frozen branches and it's moving spine sounded like the singing of expanding ice on a frozen lake. He looked up and wathed the face, just in front of his own. Though horribly hollow and frightening, he saw the sadness and remorse in it's eyes and it made new tears fall from his cheeks. It tried to smile comforting and he felt genuine compassion in its eyes. It raised its claws to his face, wanting to wipe of the tear...He never felt as his body froze solid. Just a final feeling of warmth and then nothing more.No more breth of panic could be herd in the forest, no more sound of running. Just a long lamenting gnarl.

It kinda reminded my of the Japanese Yuki-Onna at first, because it is quite similar. However, in this case it seems to be more obviously a creature, which is fated to be in solitude for all eternity. And pretty much a being fitting for Sweden, as the country is far up the north. And this picture reflects this very well. A path within a winter forest, full of pines and snow, but bare of anythin else. Certainly reflecting to the emptiness of the creatures life.And the text describes it as such as well. More like a misunderstood creature, which brings harm without the intention. It's a sad curse it has.

Aaha! Yuki-Onna! They have such character in the Momin valley too! The Ice-queen. Inspired by several sources of european folklore, she's undescribably beautiful but cold and heartless like the winter itself. Even the Groke fear her. One of my favorite scenes with the groke is when Momin (main character) makes a snow horse for the ice queen to sit upon so that he might see her in person. While waiting for the statue to freeze, the Groke approaches him. By this time, Momin has learned that the Groke isn't evil so he tells her that she cannot sit on the horse cause it's for the Icequeen. The Groke then shivers and dissappear back into the forest in fear. By then, the horse is frosen solid by her precence. Momin later learns that summoning the Icequeen isn't the brightest idea.. One of my favorite episodes really.

Finnland is even more hardcore than us when it comes to harsh whinters x3

I really think you nailed it with "Bringing harm without intention". It really is a curse.

I guess snow themed creatures are common in places with a lot of snow during their winters. Not unusual, giving the fact that different cultures create different myths and stories upon the same basics. The Ice-Queen also reminds me of the Snowqueen from the art fable from Hans Christian Andersen... I guess things come together somehow. I haven't watched Moomin for an eternity and most likely don't remember it that well, though. Too bad.

Well, I guess Russia still wins the trophy, because their winter is bad enough to destroy entire armies... literally.

Oh wow, as a painting it is lovely. At first I just appreciated the snowy trees (because I like snow), but as soon as I read a bit of the description I definitely realized how unsettled that person in the distance made me feel. *shiver*

Though I certainly feel for those kinds of characters, so sad and lonely. One of the reasons I really enjoyed Frozen.